View source for Dum Dum Arsenal

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2018}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Dum Dum Arsenal
| logo = 
| type = 
| industry = Munitions
| fate = 
| predecessor = 
| successor = 
| founded = 
| founder = 
| defunct = 
| hq_location_city = [[Dum Dum]] in modern [[West Bengal]]
| hq_location_country = [[India]]
| area_served = 
| key_people = Captain [[Neville Bertie-Clay]]
| products = 
| owner = 
| num_employees = 
| num_employees_year = 
| parent = 
| website = 
}}
The '''Dum Dum Arsenal''' was a British military facility located near the town of [[Dum Dum]] in modern [[West Bengal]], [[India]].<ref>{{cite web |title=DUM-DUM CARTRIDGES. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1886/01/04/109311715.pdf |date=4 January 1886 |work=[[The New York Times]] |page= }}</ref>

The arsenal was at the centre of the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]], caused in part by rumours that the [[paper cartridge]]s for their muzzle-loading rifles, which they were expected to bite open, were greased with pig lard (a problem for Muslims) or cow fat (a problem for Hindus).<ref>{{cite book
|title = Memoir of John Lovering Cooke, with a sketch of the Indian mutiny of 1857-58
|publisher=Oxford University
|year=1873
|page=29
|author=Charles Henry H. Wright, John Lovering Cooke}}</ref>

It was at this arsenal that Captain [[Neville Bertie-Clay]] developed the .303-inch ''Mark II Special'' cartridge, incorporating the original so-called  "Dum-dum bullet", a [[soft-point bullet]] designed to mushroom on striking.<ref>{{cite web
|title = British Military Small Arms Ammunition
|url = https://sites.google.com/site/britmilammo/-303-inch/ball-page-2
|author = Tony Edwards and Richard Tordoff
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|title = The .303 British Service Cartridge
|url = https://harringtonmuseum.org.uk/the-303-british-service-cartridge/
|author = Roy Tebbutt}}
</ref> This was the first in a series of [[expanding bullet]]s developed by the British for military use. They were later banned in warfare by the [[Hague Conventions (1899 and 1907)|Hague Convention]] as being "too inhumane."

On 7 December 1908, a serious, accidental explosion occurred at the Dum Dum arsenal, resulting in the death or serious injury to about 50 workers.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia| year = 2009 | title = Dum Dum | encyclopedia = Encyclopædia Britannica | url = http://www.search.eb.com/eb/article-9031421| accessdate = }}</ref><ref>{{EB1911 |wstitle=Dum-Dum |inline=1 |volume=8 |page=661}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{coord missing|West Bengal}}

[[Category:Military industrial facilities of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:History of West Bengal]]


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